WMG / Pokémon: Ash's Father

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This WMG page can be considered a subpage of Pokémon Anime and by extension Pokémon, and is solely to put your wild mass guesses about Ash Ketchum's father on. The "Eagun is Ash" theory goes on the Colosseum page. Crossovers get their own section.

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The Most Common Guesses

Professor Oak is Ash's father.

Common speculation, although the presence of GARY MOTHERFUCKING OAK suggests otherwise. Oak is one of two male adults in Pallet Town in the games (the other one is "Technology Is Incredible Guy") and the only major male adult in Pallet in the anime. This is enough evidence to make it one of the top 2 theories of the identity of Ash's father.

How does Gary's existance suggest that? Gary is his grandson, not his son, so it is not implausible

The shippers have not failed to notice that Delia and Professor Oak spend a lot of time together. There's even a few moments where Oak-Gary-Ash-Delia could be seen as a family. (The best being a flashback in an AG episode where they are shown in a very similar manner to Norman-May-Max-Caroline.) The question is at what point they got together.

And thus the biggest debate in the Delia/Oak pairing is when it happened, between the Oak Fathers and the Non Fathers.

Oak acts as somewhat as a paternal figure to Ash. Even if he isn't his father, I can imagine Ash seeing him as one.

Considering how Professor Oak is almost twice Delia's age, she(and the writers) probably don't mention it because of the taboo of such a relationship.

Giovanni is Ash's father.

The other main Ash's father theory.

The Evil Overlord is alwayssomebody's father; if The Hero has no father, somebody who's been around since the beginning always turns out to be his father. According to the American stage musical, Giovanni and Ash's mother once dated. Members of Giovanni's organization are obsessed with following Ash; why the interest? Early in the series, Giovanni constantly stayed in the shadows; it seemed like The Reveal was coming. But when he stepped out, he was just this guy. Perhaps he changed his appearance before his son came to challenge him for the Earth Badge. They eventually did use the Evil Overlord father plot, with Giovanni being revealed as the father of the Rival from Gold and Silver (they don't get along), which ties in with the "Ash's father really gets around" theory.

It was done well in the Pokemon Adventures manga (the rival from Gold and Silver being his son); the kid eventually does (sort of) get along with him. Or at least acknowledges the relationship. The anime version would be silly and camp.

Giovanni also has Jessie, James, and Meowth following Ash around (or at least he doesn't actively call them off) on a regular basis for years on end when they clearly are never going to succeed. Why? Because they also have a vested interest in keeping Ash alive and safe, and they routinely report back to the boss about his progress. Unbeknownst to them, Giovanni is using them to spy on Ash and possibly protect him in their own incompetent way. Since even they don't know their true purpose, there's no chance of them accidentally spilling the beans to Ash and giving up the whole game.

Jossed. According to a scientist in the FRLG afterstory, Giovanni's kid has red hair.

Giovanni's son is Silver from G/S/C/HG/SS.

Still could be in play. The Anime isn't known to follow the plots of the games exactly (for example, in the Johto arc, Giovanni was clearly still in charge of Team Rocket). If the show did follow the games to the letter, then Ash would have met Giovanni by now and be training in Mt. Silver.

What if Ash was an illegitimate child between Delia and Giovanni? Giovanni knows he fathered Silver but doesn't know he's Ash's father.

Anyway, Giovanni and Ash have met, though Giovanni doesn't remember this thanks to Mewtwo's mindwipe. You'd think Giovanni would have revealed it then.

Ash was behind Onix at the time. It's debateable whether that even counts as meeting each other. (Though with Best Wishes now...)

As it stands, Ash and Giovanni have never actually *met*. Anytime they are supposed to meet, one thing or another makes it not happen - the major incident being when Ash went to the Gym to challenge for a badge, Giovanni had to suddenly leave beforehand.

Ash and Giovani finally meet in a two-part BW 2 special. Giovani's Pokemon mops the floor with Ash's Pikachu but Pikachu even things out by taking on Giovani himself. Nothing was made of their relationship in the story though, other than the average "bad guy meets good guy" exchanges

To be fair, I can see Giovanni as a Missing Parent with a tint of Rape as Drama. Delia had him when she was 18 from what I understand...

If Nintendo springs it late, wouldn't be with a more current evil person, like N?

Giovanni could have more than one kid. Also, it seems to fit Giovanni in the games as well. This troper always found him to be somewhat afably evil where the main character was concerned. Perhapse he was hoping that Ash would defeat him, and then take over the family business?

In some media Giovanni IS Ash's confirmed father, granted the media was Pokemon the Musical, but is stated by no less than two characters, in songnon the less.

Actually, according to the synopsis of Pokemon Live from T Rs Rockin':

Delia tells Professor Oak about her less-than-perfect life in the past and her acquaintance with Giovanni. When she was a teenager, she used to hang out with a crowd of bad kids. One of her friends back then was starting up a gang that later became Team Rocket. She straightened her life out once she met Ash's father, and became the upstanding woman she is now.

Not only is Giovanni Ash's father, but he wants his son to succeed him as boss of Team Rocket and Viridian City Gym Leader. See my WMG on the main anime section for more details.

Silver (from Chronicles) is Ash's father.

Surprisingly for a one-shot, this Silver (not to be confused with the Lugia, the Johto rival, or the rival's various manga incarnations) is a common candidate, simply because he mentions he's heard of Ash. For some reason, Max doesn't get the same theories applied to him.

In addition to this Silver is Giovanni's older brother who named his son after Silver.

So that could mean that Giovanni and red-haired Silver are Ash's uncle and cousin. Interesting.

Well, Max just watched the Silver Conference. (And he got Ash's name wrong in his debut episode anyway.) Ash's name clearly means something to Silver and the episode spends a lot of time using Ritchie to show how similar Silver is to Ash.

He also Expied Ash in a few ways; with his own version of Pikachu, Charizard and Ho-Oh (Early encounter) with Chikorita, Salamence and Moltres.

Non-Crossovers

Ash's father is a Ditto.

From a Fridge Horror entry on this page, it's theoretically possible that a Ditto may be able to Transform into a human for breeding purpose (since Ditto can be used in breeding centers to make Pokemon eggs with any Pokemon with a gender). The Ditto assumed the form of an attractive male, bred with Delia, then returned to the wild.

(separate guess) A Ditto became human and went to "daycare" with Delia in her room. Simple.

Ash's Father is Gary

He always is better than Ash, and Ash wanted to prove to Gary he can be better.

And is actually Professor Oak's son with a case of stunted growth.

Yes let's throw out the fact that they're both 10 and started their journeys on the same day. No it can't be simple rivalry. It has to be some crazy theory of a 10 year old fathering someone of the same age.

Well, nobody ever questions Gary's parents, do they? At least Ash has a mother, Gary only has his grandfather, even though it hasn't been mentioned if ol' Sammy Oak even HAS children. Just toss a Celebi into the mix, and we have an older Ash going back to before he was born, impregnating Gary's mother, and leaving soon after. Gary is born at roughly the same time as Ash, but unfortunately, his mother dies soon after. Delia finds the young Gary, but with no room to look after him in her own house, takes him to the professor, who raises him as his grandson.

Or if the above Professor Oak is Ash's father is true, you can have this theory and have Oak actually be Gary's grandfather.

Or, alternatively, she's just a crossdresser. Her Les Yay with Zoey is him coming onto the the loli.

Ash and Dawn are full siblings

Shortly after Dawn was born, their parents split up, each taking one child, and the father had a sex change.

Ash's father is Lugia.

It explains Ash's prophetic role in the second movie - three orbs will only light up when he holds them. Lugia could have magically caused a virgin birth (or caused an unfertilized egg to hatch); more likely, he took a human disguise and romanced a young Delia. Mr. Ketchum is only mentioned briefly by Ash's mom, with no real detail. (Specifically, Delia told Ash how long it took his father to get from Pallet Town to Viridian City). This could've been something she made up to comfort him or one of the few vague comments Lugia mentioned in the short time she got to know him. Alternatively, she could be under the impression that another man is his father (which gels nicely with the Giovanni and Prof. Oak theories). The same theory could apply to any of the other legendaries; but Lugia has the most relevance to Ash's supernatural qualities, and is seemingly the most intelligent.

Notably, the fifth Pokemon Movie just happens to feature a female Legendary Pokemon (Latias) who can take a human form... and she just happens to get a crush on Ash. She even gives him his (presumably) First Kiss.

Also, when Ash's father is mentioned, it is immediately before Ash notices the plaque of legendary Pokemon on the wall, specifically in the second episode. "Pokemon Emergency".

Alternatively, Lugia could have done this in the past and created human descendants, from one of whom Ash is descended. That would explain why there are a bunch of Ash look-alikes running around- they are also Lugia's descendants. We can still have the Giovanni-is-Ash's-father theory in play. Or the Professor Oak-is-Ash's-father theory, if you're into that sorta thing.

Sir Aaron is Ash's father.

He was brought from the past by Celebi and left on Delia's doorstep. It's the reason why their Aura is so similar. Delia just lied about his father because she had no idea either.

Alternatively, Ash is Aaron reborn.

Or, Aaron slept with someone (Queen Rin maybe? They seemed close...) shortly before going to the Tree of Beginning; the resulting offspring is Ash's distant ancestor. If his partner WAS Queen Rin, she probably gave birth to twins; one twin became the kingdom's heir, and the other twin was Ash's ancestor, making Ash and Queen Ilene distant relatives. And, Aaron probably did this on purpose, the rascal. After all, he left his gloves behind before he died; he probably thought they'd be needed in the future, and there'd have to be somebody to wear them, right?

Pikachu is a distant relative of Lucario because of their similar relationships to their trainers. In a world with Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action, this is quite logical.

Well, both are in the ground egg group, this last part is extremely possible

Professor Birch is Ash's father.

Ash just got into bleaching his hair when he lived with Birch in the 3rd Gen game continuity instead of staying with Delia like the anime/Yellow continuity.

Except that the "bleached" hair on Ruby's character is just a white hat and his hair is actually black. And why are we involving game continuity in this?

Brock is Ash's father

It's only assumed he's around the same age as Ash. Really, he's a shameless womanizer, so it's not like it's crazy. He's all too eager to go on an adventure with Ash, too.

Considering that Ash has been 10 for a few years, I wouldn't be surprised if Brock has been 15 for a while, too.

Of course, if Ash could be his own father, presumably Brock could have used similar methods to romance a young Delia....

Also, the dad-runs-a-gym bit is used in Ruby and Sapphire. For the first six or so seasons, Brock acts more like Ash's "cool dad" than his friend. (After that point...)

Alternately: Brock is Ash's half-brother. Brock's mom also really did die, but he'd identified with his (second) stepmother enough later in the series to accept her as his actual (but not birth) mother. Delia and Brock's father may or may not have been married.

It shapeshifts, it's protective of him, and, again, somebody has to be. (Also solves for "Mew is Ho-Oh and Ash's Guardian" and why Ash went all incandescent - with a lot of pink, like Mew's energy field - from the Pokemon tears in the 1st movie, and now seems to be immortal.)

Mew is Ash's mother (Delia in Pokemon form) and Lugia is Ash's father, who may or may not be Aaron's father as well.

It's not that Farfetch'd, considering Mew can shapeshift, and Lugia is supposedly Ash's father but has not been shown to change shape. Has anyone ever actually seen Mew and Delia in the same screen? Plus, the Mr. Mime is there to suppress her psychic powers while in human form, not just as a housekeeper.

Lugia somehow fathered Sir Aaron, some of his descendants left his homeland at some point, Ash and his father are direct descendants of these people, and Richie and all the people who look like Ash are offshoots of the line. The reason they all still look alike is because of the power of Lugia in their bloodline or something. If Giovanni is Ash's father and a descendant of Lugia, he may be Trying To Take Over The World because he sensed that he was more powerful than ordinary humans somehow. So Lugia -> Sir Aaron -/-> Giovanni -> Ash.

Slightly Jossed; Giovanni's kid has red hair. I know this because I played the FRLG games.

"Giovanni's kid has red hair" only means that Ash has a brother — possibly Ritchie.

Is Silver, the rival from Pokémon Gold and Silver, just dead meat now?

Just because they said that in the games does not mean it applies to the anime. The anime, the manga, and the games are all separate continuities.

Riley is Ash's father

OK, he has recently appeared in the anime, just HAPPENS to look exactly like Aaron (who, himself, looks like a grown up-version of Ash and has the same aura as him); he trains a Lucario (like Aaron) and, oh look! He's an AURA GUARDIAN! And probably the last one too! Hmm... Wait....Who's the other human character, who's been seen using Aura-powers three times? Oh, right, THAT'S ASH!

Old Man Weedle is Ash's father.

Prove me wrong, bitch.

It does seem like teaching one to catch Pokemon would be something of a paternal duty, hardly something one would learn from a random guy off the street.

Clearly he isn't Ash's father. Ash's last name is Ketchum, whereas Old Man Weedle's last name is Weedle.

Delia would rather not let Ash know that she's into that sort of thing, so she made up Ash's "real" father to throw Ash off. How, exactly, being half-Pokémon affected Ash is something that I'm not even going to bother speculating.

This does explain how Ash is still alive. It's the barrier move that he inherited from his father being used instinctively.

It also explains why Ash hasn't grown older in ten years: evolution. One day, Ash will suddenly become a teenager like if he was a Sim.

Or just being half-Pokémon in general gives him better strength/endurance. This troper likes this theory anyway (as well as the "evolving into a teenager" joke) mainly because it's just funny and explains why we never get anything about Ash's dad besides that one reference at the beginning of the series.

Misty's future son is Ash's father.

Togepi told her, because it's some sort of time-and-space traveler as implied in the Togetic episode. That's the real reason she left at the end of the Johto saga.

If that wasn't enough, Ash "Died" and was "Reborn" in the first Pokemon movie by water (tears, but whatever). How much more Christian symbolism do you need here?

Delia is Ash's father

She was originally a guy who's name was Dell Ketchum. A long time ago, Dell made a Missingno pregnant and that's how Ash was born. Since Missingno is super glitchy, it accidentally turned Dell into a woman after Ash was born. After that, Dell decided to go by the alias of Delia Ketchum.

But if we go by the original name, Hanako, things get pretty complicated...

Cyrus slept with Delia?! That's absurd. Of course, that wouldn't stop him from being a sperm donor (he would've been only 17 at the time, and probably still coming to grips with puberty).

It's not absurd when you consider the fact that Delia was herself was only 19 when Ash was born; Cyrus would have been in her age group.

Red's Pika is Ash's father

This is why Ash becomes a Pikachu when transformed into a Pokémon. Also, Viridian City, where Delia said Ash's father went, is where Red catches Pika.

Latios is Ash's father

Latios and Latias can disguise themselves as humans in the anime. It's a lot more plausible than Lugia being Ash's father, anyway. Of course, that mean's it's quite possible Ash fell in love with his aunt.

Ho-oh is Ash's father

Ho-oh has resurrected Pokemon in the past. Ash has died and come back to life. Obviously, Ho-oh is watching over his son and bailing him out every once in a while. Ash seeing it in the first episode was no coincidence: Ho-oh wanted to be there to see his son start his Pokemon journey.

Also, Ho-oh is a Phoenix. Ash is... Ash. As in, the first stage of a Phoenix's life.

Also also: I believe Ho-oh appears once each series - Ho-oh is watching over his son.

This is why Ash is the chosen one and such, as he is part legendary

And the Ash is eternally 10, Ho-oh and others must be immortal or live for a real long time. Thus Ash would age at a much slower rate than everyone else.

This Troper likes this one, and makes logical sense H-oh appearing at the beginning of the series to see his son off.

Lance is Ash's father

In the games, Lance has battled using Pokemon which cannot exist. In the anime, Ash has used attacks that don't work as shown, and in the games, Ash has captured Olympus Mons. Like father, like son?

ASH IS NOT IN THE FREAKING GAMES! Except for Puzzle League. By the way, no game protagonists have canonically captured a legendary (Stadium series excluded.)

Get 152 Pokemon in GSC and call Prof. Oak. I'll wait.

what does that have to do with anything???

Uh, yes, game protagonists have canonically captured legendaries. Black2/White2 has the protagonist of Black/White not only canonically catching their appropriate box legendary, but also their Kami (but not any of the Swords of Justice or Kyurem.)

Identical Grandson covers almost everything. Blue's father is the Professor Oak that Ash knows, Brock from the game is Flint's elder brother, Misty from the game was an only child and later mother of four. Other characters simply don't age much, because they already looked old and possess great longevity, because they're not human or get replaced by duplicates (the Joys and Jennies, plus the Team Rocket whiteshirts), or have some metaphysical problem that de-ages them like Sabrina appears to have.

Or, Celebi sent Red back 10 years so he could get Delia pregnant, then he took him back to his own time. Someday Ash will finally climb to the top of Mount Silver and meet him.

Time travel isn't necessary. Red is probably much older in the anime universe.

Pikachu is Ash's father

Why not?

Wobbuffet. What, you didn't get the pun?

Seriously, Ash's father was accidentally turned into a Pikachu by Bill, and Oak captured him on his way back to Pallet Town. This also explains why Delia and Pikachu are so into each other in the third movie.

who was made by mixing Lugia, Ho-oh, Mew and Arceus together, and then transformed into a girl to be impregnated by Professors Oak and Birch, as well as Aaron, Giovanni, Riley, Rick Astley, Hitler, Cyrus, Winston Churchhill, Pikachu and Lance, and then gave birth to himself, went back in time to become every human every born, then gave birth to Latias, who he later impregnated with himself, and the fetus was an adoption agency through which Ash was adopted, as well as Brock and Misty, and grew up to be a red Nurse Joy. And by the way, he is also the Pokemon universe's equivalent of atoms.

Dafuq did I just read?

Out of all the explanations on this page, this one somehow makes the most sense, even if it is a bit convoluted.

Are you insane?

No, no, no! It didn't make sense in the least.

Volkner is Ash's father

In a recent episode of the anime, we see Volkner as a child, when he and Flint drove off a poacher. Ash is battling Flint, Volkner is sitting there with his Raichu, bored out of his mind with Pokémon battling, and there's also a local cafe owner. When Flint's Infernape completely dominates two of Ash's Pokémon, Ash sends out his Pikachu. What follows shows off Ash's and Pikachu's Determinator aspects, with flashbacks to Volkner and his Pikachu (now that Raichu) battling that poacher (who is now that cafe owner). Volkner's actions and moves were the same as Ash's. At some point, either Volkner must have vacationed to Kanto or Delia to Sinnoh, where they had a wild one night stand and Delia got pregnant.

Tobias is Ash's father.

By this time, he's been fighting Pokémon Battles for decades, and capturing Darkrai and Latios is a clear symbol of his prowess, not to mention he won a battle where type was against him.

Remember in Movie 3 where you had a picture of Ash as a kid, and alas, no father? Excluding Professor Oak, Spencer Hale might as well be Ash's father. Some time after Ash's birth, Spencer and Delia broke up. What she said about Ash's father's Pokemon training days means Spencer was a trainer back in the day.

Ummm... Then what about Spencer Hale's wife?

She's his second wife. At some point, Spencer divorced Delia and fell in love with his current wife. Or there was an affair. If it's the latter, it would explain why we haven't found out who Mr Ketchum is.

Or alternatively, they had a romantic fling before Spencer met his wife (Ash is four or five years older than Molly, after all), and then after Spencer left Pallet Town, Delia found out she was pregnant, had Ash, and never told Spencer about it. After Spencer met his wife, Delia might not have wanted to get between them and kept the identity of Ash's father a secret. Further evidence of Spencer as Ash's father is the photograph of teenage Delia with Spencer and Professor Oak (the one that was hanging on the refrigerator behind the photo of Ash and Delia with the whole Hale family).

This is the most plausible theory in this whole damn page, barring the initial Giovanni theory.

which relies on a relatively outside source

Nando is Ash's father

He did say he was a wandering bard, which means his hometown could be potentially anywhere. It also explains where the black hair came from.

And yes, I know Nando is way too young to be Ash's father (he looks about 21). Let's just assume a Celebi pulled him back in time for a one-night stand with Delia, the same way the event Celebi did for the player character to fight Giovanni in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

After all, Max has met Celebi before, knows a Ralts (whose final evolution without a stone can open worm holes) and has black hair. Plus, someone has to be, and this is more realistic than, say, Pikachu or Lugia.

There's one problem here: Max didn't know Ash's name when they first met. Given you mentioned Ralts, that means you don't mean the brown-haired doppelganger either.

Oh I think he meant that. Makes as much sense as the others here.

Future Max.

You mean Conway?

Shut up about that.

Ash's father is Sabrina's father

When Sabrina lost her temper with her parents once and for all and turned her mother into a doll, her father fled as far away as he could manage, Pallet Town. Believing his wife to be dead, nobody else seems to have doll making powers, he was found grieving by Delia. She comforted him and the two eventually fell in love and had Ash. Ash inherited psychic power from his father but after the problems wit Sabrina his parents decided to not let him develop them, used only instinctively to bond with Pokemon. Before the start of the series Ash's father learned that his first wife was still alive and left to try and help, Delia was naturally understanding and wishing him luck. When Ash gets to Lavender Town his father attempts to warn him off but also uses his powers to prevent Ash from recognizing him, which leads to the whole photographer misunderstanding.

This also goes a way to explain Sabrina's behavior. One wonders how she could act like that and not be punished by the law or maintain Gym Leader status, or have several students learning from her. The answer is simple; Sabrina is usually much more calm, though still cold and distant, maintaining her dual personalities. But then Ash shows up and she senses his latent psychic powers and puts two and two together and goes into a cold fury and pulls all the crazy stunts she does. Notice how, though she does grab and transform them, Sabrina never harms Misty and Brock at all while he's got them? Or how her student is little mouthy before her and Ash's match? Possible signs that she's more lenient to everyone that's not her family.

So that would mean Sabrina is Ash's older half-sister, Ash is an Empath, they at least look similar, Ash knew how to make his sister break her terrifying demeanor... That makes some iota of sense. This Troper agrees with this theory. Even the genetic problem is solved because both Sabrina and her father have black hair like Ash does.

Ash's father is one of the Don Georges.

Probably one from one of the cities Ash hasn't been to yet.. Ash has a huge love of battling, so who could he learn that from?. Why, someone who runs a club dedicated to the sport, of course! In other words,
Don George!. Let's say Delia was a huge battling fan back in the day. It's possible that she went to a different kind of club in Unova with one of the Don Georges, and one thing led to another....

Like father like son, they share a similar outlook on life and Pokemon and Alder's starter was just as dear to him as Pikachu would be to his son. The incident when Alder lost his starter was in fact a Heroic Sacrifice on it's part, saving his boy from danger, but the grief and fear of what else could happen to Ash drove him to run away from home.

the first possibility: Ash was an early attempt to get the legendary. He realized he was part of an Evil Plan at a very young age. So he ran away and became adopted. N was a more heavily sheltered attempt at what ash was going to be. He was never even shown outside the castle because team plasma feared he too would sence that he is an Unwitting Pawn.

It could run further. Ghetsis realised that, while he may sucseed in ruling Unova, the existence of other legendaries would threaten more ambitiousplans. When travelling to the Orange Islands, he discovered the story of a chosen one. Ash is an experiment, so that he can use The Chosen One as an Unwitting Pawn. Genetic experiments were probably added as well. The ultimate purpose was to create someone capable of befriending legendaries, so he can use them. Ghetsis may not even need to be the biological father-enough genetic experiments and other tech, and Ash will be his tool. Many other "heroes" have been fashioned like this. It could explain the whole "What happened to A-M" thing. Ash is Ghetsis' Unwitting Pawn and Manchurian Agent.

the second possibility: after N rides away on his legendary dragon, Getsis realizes that N will never return to team plasma's side. He tries to carry out his pan again to obtain kyurem, or some other legendary, and he does so by giving birth to ash. Still, is caught again and sent to jail. Ash is adopted in the kanto reigon and forgot about team plasma over time. The anime takes place a few years afterwards.

What?

Please tell me I'm not the only person who sees what's wrong with what you just said.

You're not. I just wanna know what drugs he's on.

Perhaps this is the reason that Delia never mentioned much about Ash's father: how would you like the fact that your son came from the loins of a freakwithout a human heart?!

Maybe Ghestis has been going through lettered "projects", and Ash was the first one. All of the projects had a full name that was related to nature somehow- like A for Ash, B for Bee, C for Crevice, and of course, N for Natural.

A Volcarona is Ash's father

It makes just as much sense as most WMG in this page.

James is Ash's father

He had a brief romance with Delia, and got her pregnant. Then Delia discovered that James was a member of Team Rocket and left him, forbidding him to get close to Ash because she feared he would have been a bad example for him. Thus, Team Rockets' attempts at stealing Ash's Pikachu are actually the only way James can see his son, and that explains why they try to do that every other episode. Poor James is just trying to bond with his unaware son as much as he can.

And he's always been close by, watching over his son and telling us his story.

This...makes so much sense. Following on this, the narrator is talking to his grandkids(Ash's kids with whoever he's paired with in the end, telling them about their famous dad. Inconsistencies in the story and Ash never aging is because he's trying to appeal to his grandchildren's age group, general forgetfulness in his age, and each of his grandchildren have different tastes.

Pidgey is Ash's Father

The giant flying fire moth somehow seems more reasonable....not than it is but still...

Team Rocket are Ash's parents.

Could there be any other reasons why they've been trying to capture his and only HIS Pikachu during this half and a decade?

He told Ash to do the Battle Frontier as a father/son bonding experience

Serena's father is Ash's father

It has been stated that she and Ash knew each other in Pallet long ago. This is because she's his sister and their parents each took one when they split. Serena will have a father shown, with no mother present at all. Exactly opposite Ash's situation. It also helps that she's a pallete-swap of Leaf, the female PC from LeafGreen

Er, no dad visible, just a mom. Though half siblings are still possible.

The guy with the Mega-Blaziken is Ash's Father

I had to get it first

Some points to the idea for the following cute scene

Bonnie: Wait, Ash is....

Limone/Blaziken Mask: Yes, he's your brother

Bonnie(glomps Ash joyfully): NEW FAVORITE BROTHER

(Clemont cries in corner)

He is the first visible Dad of a main character with no mother around, so that gives him some boost in likelyhoodness.

AZ is Ash's Father

Well, that might explain why he's still 10

...He's too short to be AZ's son.

The "Technology is Incredible" guy is Ash's father.

He's the only guy in Pallet Town aside from Proffessor Oak. And if Proffessor Oak was Ash's father, then that would make Ash Gary's uncle…

Ash's father is an unseen character whom we have not seen yet, nor may ever see.

It seems to be the most logical guess. Ash's father did live in Pallet Town with Delia, but left to become a trainer when Ash was still young/Delia was pregnant. We haven't seen him yet because he's still off on his own journey somewhere, doing his own thing.

If that's the case, he may be a Red expy. Or Red himself.

Isn't that a WMG on here?

Ash's father is the only person to ever actually become a Pokemon Master.

I mean, becoming a Pokemon Master is implied to be capturing at least one of every single solitary type of Pokemon ever, including Legendaries. So that would take an absurd amount of time, so much so that the task would take one almost a lifetime to do in-universe, but Ash's dad was able to do it in a fraction of the time because he always put his time to good use. This also explains why Legendaries take to Ash like a Litwick to a soul: because they can sense he's the son of their beloved Master. Ash's father is the only man in the entire world who knows about every single type of Pokemon across all the regions (including future ones), and possibly is the one responsible for all the data in a Pokedex about Pokemon people know little about, such as legendaries and just never takes credit for saying anything/proposing "ideas". To keep his identity hidden and his Pokemon protected, he has his own Pokemon Reserve, like a Professor does. He does this because he's the Pokemon Master, and doesn't want people to use his son or his wife as leverage to get to his Pokemon or to use his skill with Pokemon to their advantage. His Pokemon keep track of his wife and son and protect them (Mimey and Pikachu being candidates, with Mimey choosing to stay with Delia but never actually being caught, and Pikachu being a gift to Ash and it's possible the reason he's so temperamental at first is he was unhappy about both being away from his Master and being in a Pokeball. When he sees Ash is just as kind as his first Master, he warms up to Ash. This is also why Pikachu is so absurdly powerful—he was trained by the Master himself).

Charles the heartbreaker is Ash's father.

He's a heartbreaker... He broke a woman's heart... Her name... Delia. And so they never decided to talk about him again.

Ash's father was intended to be Ash's final challenge.

There's got to be some reason why Ash's father has never appeared, and this would be a pretty good one. Ash's father was intended to be the final trainer Ash would need to fight in order to become a Pokemon Master, whatever that may entail. The show was initially going to end at Kanto, and Ash's father was mentioned near the beginning because they were planning to foreshadow him. As time passed on, it became more clear they couldn't end it at Kanto, and as such had to cancel any development around Mr Ketchum. Ash's father will never appear by virtue of the anime itself never ending, and still isn't mentioned because of that. Needless to say, if the original plan went through Ash's father is probably the strongest trainer either then or since, and likely has legendaries on his team.

Ash is Aaron's reincarnation.

They share the exact same aura.

Richie's father is Ash's father

As it is, the two of them are so alike it's scary.

Also, that boy from "Hypno's Dreamtime" and Travis(Luana's son) are his half-brothers as well. What we're saying is that Daddy got around.

Crossovers and Real People

Ash's father is...

Ash J. Williams. You see, Ash at some point ended up in the Pokemon Universe, met Delia, and Showed herhis boomstick. He then had a crazy adventure, saved the Pokemon world from the Deadites, gunned down lots of deadite Pokemon, said goodbye to Delia, and jumped through a portal back to his world. This is too awesome not to be true.

During the late 1980s, Captain N was hopping around the video game multiverse when he had amnesia one day while accidentally dropping into the Pokemon universe (which was then totally unexplored to his buddies). He met Delia; they made sweet love to each other, and Captain N was summoned back home the following day with no memory of the event. Delia only found a way to contact him many years later, when the Pokemon world was officially added to the Nintendo empire in 1996.

We don't know what happened to Link after The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and we know that the events of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker take place in Lo Z's alternate timeline, so it's possible link found his way to Kanto (either via black hole, or maybe Hyrule is just a little behind the Pokemon universe technologically), fell in love with Delia, got her pregnant, and perhaps was whisked away from her when his homeland was once again in danger. She never says much about Link, as she never understood why he left her to rase a child all alone.

That actually explains why Red doesn't talk anymore in the 2nd generation. He wants to be like his father: a silent protagonist.

He can hop around alternate universes. And this troper wouldn't put it past him to bang a quick one and go.

And hey, he has to get the hair SOMEWHERE. His mom sure doesn't have the dark hair/dark eyes combo going for her. This also could explain some of Ash's angelic abnormal abilities/tendencies. (I'd actually really like to fanfic that...)

Dark Willow, sometime after turning evil (as seen in S8 when Buffy travels to the future) but before the events of the time traveling, decides to try to find a more enjoyable universe, one where her friends aren't already dead. At one point she actually settles down in the Pokemon universe, it being the happiest one she could find, and actually goes normal again. She and Delia get together and using magic she creates a fetus with both their DNA. However, a Pokemon randomly kills Delia, and she freaks out. Either Dialga (as master of Time) or Arceus (as God) is a bit more understanding than Osiris was for Tara or she kicks one of their asses and captures them, forcing them to do it. However, Delia is horrified at what Willow has (re)become and due to this, she leaves, returning back to the Buffyverse.

Caboose was somehow sent into another dimension (or, as he tells it, "TUCKER DID IT!") and happened upon a really drunk or really high or perhaps both Delia. They had sex, resulting in a stupid, but thankfully not as stupid as Caboose, child, due to her. Church accidentally pissed off Tex (again) so she decided to get him back just to fuck with him. The teleportation also slaughtered Caboose's entire team in between The Blood Gulch Chronicles and the next season, causing the creation of the Ctrl + F + U command on Command's computers for his teamkilling.

Jack, in his pre-Doctor Who time traveling or his space traveling between Children of Earth and Miracle Day, happened upon the world of Pokemon. Jack came to nail a bunch of the mons, as they were a bunch of species he had never nailed before. One of them poisoned him or used Confusion on him, causing him to accidentally do Delia. Because of this, Ash was born and has some 51st Century Pheromones (which cause sexual attraction), which is why he always has a hot chick following him. However, Gary's parents got his DNA and cloned him, meaning that Gary has a full set of 51st Century Pheromones, which is why he has hordes of hot chicks following him.

This is a common joke answer but there's actually some potential. While Ash channels his love of fighting into Pokémon battles, he does have a lot of Saiyan aspects. The biggest clue that his father isn't human is his natural affinity for aura/ki, which we are told is not normal. He also survives far more serious injuries on a regular basis than any other characters besides Team Rocket, who can because they count as gag characters under Toriyama logic.

Also, if you look closely, Ash◊'s hairstyle is a smaller version of Goku◊'s.

The truth is, Ash's father appears in the show. However, he is a Silence and thus you'll forget if you take your eyes off him. The episodes refer to Ash's father a lot, and you just forget what is said about the Silence. And its a sub-species of the Silence, who's memory power mainly affect the audience. Similarly, Gary's mother is a Weeping Angel.

Alternatively, Ash's father is a Weeping Angel. Specifically, AngelBob. As such, Ash has no need for comfy chairs. Or an excessive need.

Izzy was right about there being more than three worlds, and one was the Pokeworld. Heartbroken over Sora's choosing Matt, Tai runs away and finds himself trapped in the Pokeworld, rather than the Digiworld. But soon after he fathered Ash, Gennai and Kari( possesed by the spirit of the digiworld) at last tracked him down as he went on a trip to Vermillion, and brought him back to the Digiworld, as it needed saving(again). The time passing difference meant that once the digital world was saved again, everyone he had known in the Pokeworld was long dead, so Tai returned home and tried to drown his sorrows by cutting off the hair Delia so loved. Think about it. Both have the same brown eyes, unruly ( spiky!) hair( although Ash's is a it more under control) and both are leader type people, but prone to being hardheaded and stupid, often racing headfirst into danger. Both are " Chosen Ones", and saved the world around the age of ten/ eleven( Ash has a birthday party just after saving the world in the second movie), and have a sort of Hero Complex. Both care very deeply for their friends, to the point of putting themselves in harm's way to save them. Both have survived massive energy attacks that by all rights ought to have killed them. Both get very, very ticked at anyone mistreating a 'Mon, hand have tempers! Both have a thing for red-heads, and a terrible sense of direction. It makes tons of sense!

He traveled throught time and space. At least sometime he ended up with Delia - and she thought Porky would go on a journey - but guess what? He just used that as a blanant lie to go back to the Nowhere Islands.

When Godzilla first attacked Tokyo, Dr.Serizawa sacrificed himself to stop Godzilla and to keep his weapon of mass destruction from falling in the wrong hands. In an effort to defend themselves against the Kaiju, Pokemon training was made an official sport in case the Kaiju should return. Theydidreturn.

They both are the leaders of their respective groups, they both are rarely seen without their favourite caps, have messy hair, and both refuse to admit to liking a girl. Ash's cheek z's could be indications of freckles inherited from his father.

Hey, considering some of the guesses here, this makes as much sense as anything.

The truth is that Delia was too drunk to remember who Ash's father was.

'Nuff said.

Nice theory you got there. Well, Pallet Town can only have so many people. Most of the other guesses involve people outside Kanto. She's been with more people while drunk than any Troper will be sober.

I like this theory. It makes sense. She remembers that the guy told her how long it took him to get to Viridian City, but nothing else about him, thus why she never tells Ash about him.

Ash's Father really gets around.

Ash's friend Ritchie looks (and acts) a lot like him. In addition, Ash has been mistaken for the son of two different women he has never met before (and ended up in Marshmallow Hell in the process, though those scenes were cut from the dub).

This could be counted as more proof towards the Lugia theory, as the anime's Lugia-centric arc features a reunion between Ash and Ritchie. Considering the importance of the movie's Lugia and the rigamarole required to get him into the action, it seems awfully strange for not one but two of them to suddenly appear when Ritchie comes around.

Or the Lugia-is-their-common-ancestor theory.

Yes, but the anime version portrays the adult Lugia as less intelligent than the Lugia of the movie (if you take the Lugia-as-common-ancestor theory, that one would be the more likely candidate, with the whole Chosen One thing). Silver (the Lugia, not the guy from the Most Common Guesses folder) gets a pass (only a child, natch), but will probably grow up similarly. Then again, powerful psychic types shouldn't act like bloody idiots, so maybe we can all pretend that the adult Lugia never acted that idiotically.

Or they could be mundane Pokemon who are simply identical in appearance, and most power, to Lugia. Created either as a failsafe, should the "real" Lugia fall, or to be representatives to humans. Kind of like the Dour and Fairies in Atelier Iris. Identical physically, but the former are near divine entities, and the latter a regular, albeit fairly magical, race.

Or they could also be descendants of the movie Lugia. Perhaps when movie Lugia mates with a human, the offspring is a human (so that the human doesn't go through certain complications while giving birth), and when he mates with a Pokemon, the offspring is a less intelligent Lugia (possibly for the same reasons, considering that Pokemon do not give live birth).

Enough with the Lugia thing, humans get around just as well as animals do.

Ash's father is dead.

That is why he is never seen or mentioned. It's a simpler explanation than a lot of other theories.

No it doesn't, because we don't know who he was before death.

Ash's Father is Dead, and Oak feels responsible for it

Ash's father was a Pokemon trainer. Oak asked him to do some research for him, and Ash's father went off to do so. There was a horrible accident, and he died because of it. Delia suffered a mental breakdown, which is why we see her all ditzy and the like. She's off in her own world most of the time in her own attempt to deal with what happened.
Oak is constantly around Delia because he's making sure Delia doesn't snap from depression. He gives Ash so much more attention then his own grandson because he feels responsible, and feels like this is his only way to try and make amends.

This is also why Gary is such a jerk to Ash. Oak gives Ash more attention then him, so as a kid, Gary started being more jerky and antagonistic to Ash as his own way of getting back, not knowing why.

Ash was retconned into not having a father.

I mean, considering his father was only brought up in the second episode a decade back and never mentioned again, it's quite possible that either the anime writers forgot/don't consider it importent enough to ever bring up in the anime again.

Jossed. The last time we heard about Ash's father was in DP, where we actually got a picture of him (not a very clear one, but that's about what you'd expect from a mysterious unrevealed character).

That's never stated to be his dad. For all we know it can be his uncle or some random trainer.

Ash's parents are both dead. Delia (a Ditto) and 'Mime are two of Professor Oak's Pokemon.

Either Delia is based on Oak's long-dead wife's image, so it got more and more difficult to not think of her as an attractive female human as time went on. That, or he has to stay close to keep her from overworking herself living in human form 24/7.

...I think I'm going to go cry in a corner now.

Ash is his own father

From what we've heard about Ash's father, he sounds like he was exactly like Ash. So when he's older, he uses some time travel, and gets into a relationship with a girl in the past. Oedipal.

For extra help, he's made friends with Time Lord Dialga, Space Lord Palkia, Antimatter Lord Giratina, Arceus himself, and at least two Celebi. He has the means for it.

Your logic ensures a Time Paradox. He could be naming his child Ash, who then names his child Ash, and so on, the same applying to other recurring characters. The generation gap could be larger than we think. And yet technology wouldn't have advanced either, but who cares?

So, basically, he's got a similar deal to the Syaoran Loop. Well, that simultaneously explains everything...and gives me a headache.

Ash is his own grandfather.

Similar reasons and methods to Ash being his own father, but the extra generation between allows Delia to contribute genetically and lowers the squick factor slightly. And if Ash is his own paternal grandfather, that would explain why he is both the Chosen One and relatively stupid.

Ash is his own father, mother, and Pikachu

Makes as much sense as the stuff above:

Ash is sent back in time, and wanders around. He finds an attractive woman and settles down with her after a while. Later, he gets in a car accident with a Celebi who, now pissed, sends him back in time again. The process turns him into a woman and wipes his memory. Confused and dazed, an attractive man takes care of her, and helps her gain a normal life. She and this man fall in love, and she soon becomes pregnant. After giving birth, the memories come flooding back, and she realized that she boinked hermself. Then she checks her name and finds out that she took the name Delia, which means that she gave birth to herself. She keeps quiet about it to keep the timeloop stable. When she is a little old lady, she bumps into Celebi again, who is holding a grudge. She then gets sent back and turned into a Pikachu. She is confused for a bit (and hilariously shocks her past self), but eventually adjust and accepts her fate as her/his/its own Pikachu.

Ash is everyone and everything.

Due to time travel abuse, every single person ever to exist in the Pokemon universe is Ash Ketchum. This is a result of a Missingno, a bunch of gender bending and immortality. Hence why Pokemon history is detailed, yet no-one knows where people came from.

Or he must have humiliated someone who shares his father. Now who has Ash beaten in a Curb-Stomp Battle? We've got potential candidates for half-brother on the father's side.

Ash doesn't need a father-Delia have a child all by herself.

Ash is a Pokemon

He is actually a Pikachu trapped in a human's body. He had Laser-Guided Amnesia and cannot remember anything (kind of like reverse Mystery Dungeon). Last time he turned into a Pokemon, he became a Pikachu (it all makes sense now). Ash's Pikachu is his true father.

Alternatively, Pikachu is a human...

...and he is Ash's real father, stuck inside another body. This tranformation happened before Ash's supposed Laser-Guided Amnesia, so he can't remember a thing. The real reason Pikachu wouldn't listen to Ash in the first episode is because the transformation was Ash's fault. Later in the series, Pikachu grows closer to Ash as he begins to forgive him.

Or maybe, that was Pikachu's way of trying to say "ASH YOU IDIOT, I'M YOUR FATHER NOW GET ME OUTTA THIS DAMN BODY!" Unfortunately, his son is dense so now Pikachu is resigned to just accept his Pokemon status and keep Ash safe that way.

Ash just appeared one day, out of thin air, on Delia Ketchum's doorstep.

A perfectly healthy if slightly Idiot Ball-happy child forming out of random elemental dust and energy combining in just the right way? A bit unusual, but nothing wrong with that, now.

See two WMGs above.

Ash is going to have multiple children with multiple women

This goes along with the above theory that Ash and his varous lookalikes all have the same father. Ash seems to be getting a girl in every region. So he will end up with a kid with Misty in Kanto, a child with May in Hoenn, a child with Dawn in Sinnoh, a child with Iris in Unova and a child with Serena in Unova, along with some of the other popular ships such as Angie, Annabel or Gisselle.

After a period of being Friends with Benefits with the girls, Ash will one day vanish and upon the day those children become the age of 10, they will go into the Pokemon World to look for him.

Ash was adopted through a regular adoption agency.

Delia and Dell simply couldn't have kids.

Delia couldn't have kids because she didn't have a husband, couldn't get a fertilization treatment, and didn't want to have sex/have someone's baby out of wedlock or marry a guy just for the kid.

That makes the most sense to me. @Tropers/sabrinadiamond

Ash was adopted through a regular adoption agency.

Delia named him after her now-late wife/husband/girlfriend/common-law spouse.

Delia was immolated in a cult ritual decades before the series against her will. However, the flames developed a conscience and sparks flew between them. 10 years and 9 months before the series began, Delia's spirit created a new body exactly like her old one. The remains of Delia's original body fertilized her new one. The child's name? ASH.

Specifically, through parthenogenesis. Well, we've never heard a hint of the real father, so chances are that Delia had an immaculate conception. While I wouldn't agree that he's the spitting image of his mother, at least it isn't as far-fetched (no pun intended) as all the ones above.

No. That is not what an immaculate conception is. The immaculate conception refers to Mary's birth, not Jesus'. Mary was born without original sin, and was thus "pure enough" to give birth to the Son of God. (I don't even believe in original sin, but I went to Catholic school and decided I'd make up for people calling me names by learning more about their religion than they did.)

You are Ash's father.

That's right. Delia Ketchum put a roofie in the beer you were drinking at that wild party you went to back in the eighties. She then proceeded to do things to you for only one purpose and one purpose only. Thus, nine months later, the world was given the fatherless Pokémon Master. However, I'm not sure how he became perpetually ten...

Jossed, I'm only (almost) sixteen. I never drank beer, lest I'd be thrown in the slammer.

That is to say, anyone can be Ash's father. Every episode, the identity of Ash's father changes. One day it will be Giovanni, and another it'll be Arceus. Hence why Ash is eternally 10: his father is the living embodiment of Negative Continuity. This makes Ash a Humanoid Abomination, warping the laws of time so that he never ages. Or anyone else in the vicinity.

Everyone is Ash's father.

Yes, everyone. Literally, everyone. The truth is Delia is an Eldritch Abomination who's also a giant slut. A decent individual, but a cosmic slut nonethless. One day, to allieviate her libido, she had sex(or at the very least pollinated) with everything, in every universe, at every point of time and space. Ash was the result. His father is almost never mentioned because it's a redundant title.

Ash's father is Black.

Explains why Ash's mom does not talk about him.
WHAT!! Its know more rude then other comments made on Ash's mom.

Jossed: Ash's mom runs the only resturant in Palllet Town, that is where her money comes from.

"Who is Ash's father?" is the Ultimate Question for Life, the Universe and Everything.

Which is why we've never found out his identity. The answer is either connected to 42, or 42 was an incorrect answer(Deep Thought never knew the Question, so how the hell could it do anything other than guess.) The reason why we've never been able to find out the identity of Ash's father is because, when we do, the universe is destroyed and replaced by something even more complex. This has probably occured with the other theories above. If its connected to 42, then it may refer to a character that appeared in the 42nd episode, the 42nd character that appeared, even someone named 42. If its not 42, then, by now, only the likes of an Eldritch Abomination would come close to calculating the identity of Ash's father.

This means that Ash's father is either a Golbat, a Clefable, a Nincada, a Machamp, a Palpitoad (better yet his Palpitoad), or a Simipour.

Ash's father is everyone and everything on the face of this planet and all others.

And is probably dead. Ash has lighter skin than Brock and Iris, but slightly darker skin than most people people in Poke-Japan. He's also traveled through at least six regions before turning however old he is now, which probably isn't normal by Pokemon world standards, and traveling is part of Roma culture even when they aren't fully nomadic. And Ash has black hair.
If you want to want tho get into stuff which really shouldn't be hereditairy, the police keep accusing Ash and freinds of random things they didn't do. They also tend to get into trouble for unknowingly trespassing.

Ash is really Mew and Delia is his Ditto wife.

What?! It's plausible!!!

Delia used to be a scientist

But she got busted for toying with a sperm sample. And that's how Ash was born...

Considering she used to be a student of Professor Oak along with Spencer Hale, this might not be as crazy as it sounds.

Bantarou is Ash's father

Take a good look at Batarou. Take a good look at Ash. I caught on to this resemblance the first time I watched an episode of Jubei-chan.

Ash's father is whoever you want Ash's father to be.

Yes, I know this sounds crazy.

Ash's father is a scientist that worked on Mewtwo.

He was a famous scientist that got so famous Team Rocket captured him and forced him to work on the clone of Mew along with many other scientists and Dr. Fuji. After Mewtwo's escape, he died (4Kids would say he escaped), or did he?

In other words, she possesses both male and female gentalia. Makes as much sense as anything else on this page, no? When she talks about Ash's father in an early episode, she's talking about herself as a child.

Ash's dad is just a random loser

According to early novelizations by Takeshi Shudo both Ash's dad and grandfather are missing. The books state Ash's dad left on a journey and never returned. Ash's mom lied about his dad being a great trainer. He wasn't a particularly good trainer at all; Ash's mom is determined that he'll be a better trainer than his father, which he did when he defeated Brock (implying Ash's dad couldn't even beat a gym leader). Delia fell for him when she was seventeen or eighteen - he used to hang out at her family's restaurant a lot - and she married him. He left shortly after they got married. With this knowledge we can assume he's either still on his journey, trying to make something of himself, or he ran away in shame.

Of all unknown figures and very minor characters in fiction, Ash's father probably has the most speculation in terms of identity. Despite ultimately being next to nothing in terms of importance to the plot, people obsess over just who he is. In truth, Ash's father is the living embodiment of Wild Mass Guessing-his existence is defined by being an unknown who could be anyone. Should his identity ever be revealed, he'd cease to exist since he's defined by not having a solid identity.

If you're right, doesn't that mean that he has now ceased to exist, as his true identity has been deduced?

Nope, because this is merely 1 WMG among many others, that barely anyone will believe in favour of their own. It's not officially declared "canon" yet.

It should be noted that this theory will be instantly jossed if we're given concrete proof of who Ash's dad is, since we would have no need for guessing. The only way to confirm this theory? Have Ash Ketchum's father never revealed. Depending on your point of view, this theory would be both confirmedand jossed.

Ash's father is a Pokemon Master, who is part of an omnipresent council of masters.

Eventually, the writers will lampshade the whole "Ash's father" theory.

I seriously doubt that they don't know anything about the "who's Ash's father" phenomenon, considering how huge it is amongst the fan-base. Given how Ash's father hasn't even been referenced since Episode 2, the best we can hope before he arrives are ambiguous references, like Ash being somewhat confused with his companion's new parents.

Ash's father does not exist.

Ash is a cartoon character thus does not have real biological parents case he is not real. The creators gave him a mother thus he has a mother they gave him no father so he has no father.

Ash's father and Red's father are long-lost brothers.

What more can be said? It would be a nice way to link Ash and Red together.

Ash's father will have Red's Heart Gold Soul Silver team but with a more recent Eeveelution in place of Pikachu

Because imagine how awesome that would be.

Ash's father is the Champion of a currently unknown region

Who Ash will battle, and defeat, becoming the new champion. Imagine how awesome that would be.

Ash's father has actually appeared in each season

This will only be revealed in the Grand Finale, where it's stated he's been protecting Ash throughout his journey this whole time. And, as a reward for being a "good boy", he gives Ash his best Pokemon... which we never get to see thanks to a random clip show of past moments from the entire series.

The writers read "Ash's father" theories.

They like reading our WMGs and get a laugh about how silly they can get. The longer they never confirm who Ash's father is, the more material they get to have a laugh

Ash has no father because he's a clone

Of Sir Aaron. The inconsistencies like eye color and thunderbolt marks under his cheeks was because some of the DNA used was damaged and had to be filled in with another person's. This explains the identical Aura and the Ho-oh that appears in the first episode. It's Mew transformed like in the movie sensing Aaron and looking for him. Delia either doesn't know or doesn't want Ash to know and lies about his father to make him feel better.

Ash's father works under Prof Oak.

He's not just a trainer who is on a journey. He's paid to explore and find new species of Pokémon.

Ash's father is a temporal paradox/Dialga

Sometime during Ash's adventures, he ends up cloned. This clone of himself (who is either a baby or Perpetually 10) gets later send back in time to be adopted by Delia Ketchum.
Of course, this raises the question of where the First Ash came from. Probably created by Dialga as a way to stop the end of reality itself or something.

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